Executive Officers
DANIEL ROONEY has served as a Director of our Company since joining us in March 2002 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rooney was elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of our Company on January 8, 2003. Prior to joining us, Mr. Rooney was General Manager for Johnson Matthey, Color and Coatings Division, Structural Ceramics Sector North America from 1994 to 2001. Prior to that, Mr. Rooney held various management positions at TAM Ceramics, Inc., a Cookson Group Company. Mr. Rooney has a Bachelor of Science in Ceramic Engineering from Rutgers College of Engineering and an MBA from Niagara University. Mr. Rooney’s expertise and background in manufacturing and ceramics provides experience that the Board considers valuable.
GERALD S. BLASKIE, has served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since March 2006 and the Company’s Chief Financial Officer since April 2001. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Blaskie was the Controller at Cable Link, Inc. from February 2000 to March 2001. From 1997 to 2000, he was the Plant Manager at Central Ohio Plastics Corporation, where he also served as Controller from 1993 to 1997. Mr. Blaskie earned a B.S. degree in Accounting from Central Michigan University and passed the CPA exam in the State of Ohio.
MIKE BARNA, has served as Vice President of Sales since March 2006. He joined the Company in January of 2004 as Director of Sales and Marketing. Mr. Barna has more than twenty years of experience in the thin film industry. In 1991 MIC Technology purchased the hybrid products division from MRC. Mr. Barna earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University Of Kentucky.
MICHAEL S. SMITH, has served as the company’s Corporate Secretary since December 2006. Mr. Smith is a Partner at Carlile Patchen & Murphy LLP (CPM). He chairs CPM’s Business Law Practice Group and serves on the Executive Committee. He graduated with honors from Kenyon College and earned his law degree from The Ohio State University.
Board of Directors
Daniel Rooney has served as a Director of our Company since joining us in March 2002 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rooney was elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of our Company on January 8, 2003. Prior to joining us, Mr. Rooney was General Manager for Johnson Matthey, Color and Coatings Division, Structural Ceramics Sector North America from 1994 to 2001. Prior to that, Mr. Rooney held various management positions at TAM Ceramics, Inc., a Cookson Group Company. Mr. Rooney has a Bachelor of Science in Ceramic Engineering from Rutgers College of Engineering and an MBA from Niagara University. Mr. Rooney’s expertise and background in manufacturing, marketing and ceramics provides experience that the Board considers valuable.
Robert H. Peitz has served as a Director of our Company since 2004. Mr. Peitz is a private investor and portfolio manager. Mr. Peitz has completed levels I and II of the Credit Risk Management series at the Citibank School of Global Banking, attended the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Peitz is the former Managing Director and Head of Financial Markets for PB Capital in New York, New York. Previously, Mr. Peitz was a Managing Director at BHF Capital, Treasurer of BHF-Bank New York Branch and an Associate at Morgan Stanley in International Operations. Mr. Peitz graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and has an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. Mr. Peitz’ experience in finance and investor relations provides experience that the Board considers valuable.
Emily Lu joined our Company as director in 2014. Ms. Lu is currently the Managing Partner of Gateway Resources Partners, Florida, an entity founded in 2013 to explore business opportunities in oil & gas field service. Ms. Lu has considerable senior management experience, including serving from 2007 through 2012 as Chief Strategy Officer for Solar Power Industries, a vertically integrated manufacturer for photovoltaic solar components with experience in domestic and international markets. Ms. Lu received a B.A. from the School of Law at National Taiwan University with Honors. After high level executive experience at Diamond Shamrock, Taiwan (a wholly owned subsidiary of Diamond Shamrock, USA, and the precedent of Occidental) and Swire & MaClaine, Taiwan (an Asian Pacific business unit of Swire Group, UK, and a 300 year old British Trading house), Ms. Lu earned a MBA majoring in finance from Florida Atlantic University. Ms. Lu speaks English and Mandarin. The experience of Ms. Lu in international markets and development of new products and business opportunities is experience that the Board considers valuable.
Laura F. Shunk joined our Company as director in 2014. Ms. Shunk graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1980 with an A.B. degree in Chemistry and German, and from Case Western Reserve University in 1983 with a J.D. She began the practice of law at the Cleveland firm of Pearne, Gordon, Sessions, and Granger, where she worked on the prosecution of US patent applications originating in foreign jurisdictions and in the United States. As the daughter of entrepreneur Ed Funk, she began to develop an interest in the interaction between entrepreneurial ventures and intellectual property. She wrote several key patents for a young Cross Medical Company. These patents later became the subject of extensive litigation, and resulted in millions of dollars in settlements with Johnson & Johnson, and later with AlphaTech Spine, and which were a key asset in the purchase of Interpore/Cross for $280 million by Biomet. Presently, Ms. Shunk is a shareholder of Hudak, Shunk & Farine, Co. L.P.A. where she has been employed for more than five years. At this firm, she has expanded her areas of representation to include sophisticated material science research, and was awarded appointments to represent the University of Akron, Kent State University, Case Western Reserve University, and NASA, as well as Akron and Northeast Ohio polymer manufacturers and molders. She has continued with her interest in guiding start-up ventures with respect to the development of intellectual property portfolios. Ms. Shunk acted as counsel to an Akron area orthopedic implant company that was able to complete its acquisition in its seventh year at a 5.5x sales multiplier in part as a result of its extensive multi-national patent and trademark portfolio which Laura helped create. Ms. Shunk’s experience in intellectual property and the development and commercialization of new technologies is experience that the Board considers valuable.
Edward W. Ungar has been a Director of our Company since 1990. Mr. Ungar founded and led Taratec Corporation, a technology business-consulting firm in Columbus, Ohio for close to 30 years. He is currently performing private business consulting. Prior to forming Taratec Corporation in 1986, Mr. Ungar was an executive with Battelle Memorial Institute. Mr. Ungar earned Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University and a B.M.E. in Mechanical Engineering from The City College of New York, and completed the Executive Development Program at the Kellogg School, Northwestern University. In his position at Battelle, Mr. Ungar had profit and loss (P+L) responsibility for a major operation division. At Taratec, Mr. Ungar had extensive experience in treasury and P+L functions as well as general management. Throughout his career, Mr. Ungar has been involved in technology commercialization related to the principal business areas of our Company. Mr. Ungar’s experience in the commercialization and finance of new technologies provides experience that the Board considers valuable.
